Dear College Students: You Should Take Geology

A steam and ash plume from Dukono in Indonesia, seen on March 22, 2016 via Landsat 8.NASA Earth Observatory Geology (or, more properly these days, geosciences) is a field that most incoming first-year students have little experience with. Maybe they had a rock collection, maybe they took AP Environmental Science. Maybe, if they were lucky, they had a high school teacher with some training in the field. However, most of the time, geology is faaaaar down the list of disciplines that any first-year might think to study ... and the field doesn't even cross their mind before they graduate. That, my friends, is a mistake. Few disciplines in today's world play such a significant role in how society operates and what we can do to protect our future. Few fields of study can play such a profound role in protecting people's lives on a daily basis, whether you realize it ...